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Deadly hostage taking in Algeria spearhead by Canadian citizen: report

MONTREAL—A brazen and deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant last month that left more than three dozen hostages dead was spearheaded by a Canadian citizen with roots in the restive Russian republic of Chechnya, according to a report.

The reputable French daily Le Monde appears to have found another kernel of information that Canadian police, spies and diplomats have been looking for since the In Amenas natural gas facility was overrun in mid-January by a well-trained and heavily armed unit of Islamists. The group, calling themselves the Signatories in Blood brigade, killed 38 hostages over the course of the four-day standoff at the facility in the Sahara desert, near the border with Libya.

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal, proclaimed shortly after the standoff was brought to an end by one of his country’s elite commando units, that the terrorist attackers included Tunisians, Egyptians, Malians and Algerians as well as two Canadians. One of them, Sellal said, held a leadership role in the unit and went by the name Chedad. Few other details have emerged since then.

Hostages who made it out of the facility later told reporters that one of the hostage takers had fair hair and skin and spoke perfect English with what was described as a Canadian or British accent.

Since then, despite the forceful demands of Foreign Minister John Baird and other Canadian officials, Algierian officials have failed to provide any further information that would help Ottawa verify the identities of the suspected Canadians, such as identification papers or physical evidence such as DNA or fingerprints.

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But a journalist for Le Monde was among more than 100 foreign journalists invited to tour the Algerian gas plant on Jan. 31 and the report in Saturday’s edition of the paper says the Canadian alleged to have led the attack was of Chechen origin.

“That surprised us,” an anonymous security source says.

Chechnya is the predominately Muslim Russian republic that has fought two brutal wars in an attempt to gain independence. The Chechen wars became a crusade for jihadists, many of whom cut their teeth fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Since Chechen jihadists have been found in Afghanistan, fighting against Canadian and other international forces, in the Syrian civil war that rages, and apparently also in North Africa.

The security source cited by Le Monde confided that terrorist training camps have been identified in Libya, the country through which the gas plant hostage takers entered Algeria. But the presence of Chechen fighters in the region has been detected predominately in Syria.

Canada is urgently trying to obtain additional information, in part to determine if there are any active links between Canada and what appears to be a North African terror cell based out of northern Mali.

American intelligence officials are also keen for additional information that might shine light on suspected terrorists with border-friendly Canadian travel documents, Reuters reported earlier this week.

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